A Little Extra Push
by Fading Starlights
Summary: Sarah was doing fine after the Labyrinth… but Jareth was not. His kingdom was literally crumbling because of his depression due to Sarah's rejection. Then a mysterious girl whose eyes change color everytime she blinks appears and offers to help… and he takes her offer. A few years later Sarah returns to the Labyrinth, unprepared for the horrors that will await her. ratingmaychange


**Prologue**

Jareth had felt Sarah's rejection down in the very core of his being. He'd tried so hard to keep Sarah from winning… tried so hard to keep her from the baby so that he could offer Sarah a deal… her brother in exchange for herself. In that final face-off in the Escher Room, Jareth had offered her everything. Her dreams. Himself. He would have given her anything to prove his love… but she had said the words that would prevent him from going near her or watching her ever again. He had no power over her… and now look at him.

The once almighty Goblin King, King of the Labyrinth, was now sprawled across his throne in a very ungraceful fashion unbefitting of him, but what did Jareth care? The woman he'd been pining after had rejected him without even a moment of hesitation. Worse, a victorious smile! With a lazy flick of his wrist, another bottle of something extremely potent appeared in one of the kings' gloved hands. He brought to his lips and drank heavily, swallow upon swallow as though he was parched, until almost half of the bottle was gone.

The sound of stones falling and goblins screaming hit Jareth's ears from the window. He had managed to get the goblins to vacate the throne room so that he could wallow by himself. Jareth got to his feet stumbling and pushed his way towards the hole in the stone walls. The sight that greeted him way terrible.

It had only been two hours since Sarah had departed; taking the boy she had called "Toby" with her. But in that time, the Labyrinth had begun to collapse. There were walls falling, goblins screaming, the other inhabitants trying to seek shelter in the open areas, the city, and the hedge maze, which had turned brown and started to lose their leaves. There were cracks forming in almost every wall, the bog was starting to leak into areas nearby, it's stench getting steadily worse. One wouldn't think it could be possible, but anyone who had had the misfortune of running into the leaking areas would vouch for it.

Even looking at the stone next to him, Jareth could see the stones become more brittle, so when he stumbled slightly and put his hand on the corner of a wall to support himself, the wall gave way underneath his fingers and Jareth's head collided with the wall.

Clutching it and blocking out the screams of his subjects, Jareth sat on the ground, holding the side of his face. While many of his subjects weren't intelligent enough to figure out what was happening, the Goblin King was more than aware. Sarah's rejection, her dismissal, refusal, ignorance, loyalty, and all around stubbornness had broken his heart and, unfortunately, the Labyrinth reflected what he felt inside. The well being of his kingdom relied on his, so when he felt as though he was falling apart inside, the Labyrinth began to fall apart itself.

When Jareth pulled his hand away from his face, he noticed a slight trace of blue blood on his hand and let out a string curses, his words slurring as the alcohol started to kick in.

"Oh jeez," a female voice suddenly said from nowhere. Jareth head snapped towards the noise. "You're bleeding. And you've been drinking?! Seriously?! It's bad enough that you're kingdom is crumbling, but you're too busy wallowing in self-pity… why am I so surprised?"

As the girl let out the string of worries and criticisms, she knelt down next to Jareth and pulled open the bag she had at her side. She took out a small handkerchief and was about to dab at Jareth's head when he grasped her wrist roughly and demanded, "Who are you?"

The girl blinked at him surprise, but when she blinked, Jareth recoiled slightly. The moment her eyes had closed and reopened, her eyes had changed from an earthen brown to a blazing yellow. It took him a moment to recover from the shock, but he noted that the girl's eyes softened as though she understood what was happening and she waited for him to get a good look at her.

Her hair was red. Blazing red, curling every which way in big looping curls that had formed into perfect ringlets here and there, and it hung down her back in a pony tail tied low. Her skin was pale, as though she had been avoiding sunlight for quite some time, her nose was slender and sloped evenly on her face, her lips slightly pink, her thin, dark eyebrows perfectly arched for her facial structure, and her wrist was small and thin within Jareth's grasp to the point he was almost surprised that he hadn't snapped it already.

She had dressed in a dark green that looked like the color of tree leaves when illuminated by the light of the full moon, and it was clear that her slender form was due to a small bone structure.

In her eyes, which changed colors every time she blinked, sometimes shades different, sometimes entire colors, there was sense of wisdom and baffled understanding… but it was clear that she was very young, even by the standards of Fae, which she clearly was.

"Who are you?" he asked again, his voice as firm and demanding as when he had first asked. "What are you doing here?"

The girl took a deep breath and smiled at Jareth, taking him slightly off guard.

"My name is Kaethe," the girl explained carefully, sounding as though she might have rehearsed this a couple of times. "I'm here to apply for a job as your personal assistant."

Jareth's mind was blank and found himself incapable of coming up with an answer. The girl – Kaethe – took this as a good sign to continue.

"Your Highness, here's why I am doing this," she continued, her words coming out in more of a rush than before. "Your kingdom is falling apart as we speak. The damage to your heart is great and so the damage to the Labyrinth will be just as great. I cannot permit this to happen. In order to save the Labyrinth and you to remain the king that you are, I must become your personal assistant so that they Labyrinth is no longer solely feeding off of your emotions. If things continue like this, the Labyrinth will crumble completely in a few days."

Finally, Jareth's mouth and brain connected for Jareth to question her.

"Why do you want to help me? The Labyrinth?" His voice began to rise with his outrage. Was she insulting him? Did she think he was weak enough that he needed her assistance?! "Are you after the throne? Is that it? You want to get close to me because of my status?! How dare you even _think_ of such a vile trick–"

"No." The girl cut him off without even a second thought, her face darkening dramatically. "When I want something, I go after it with a lot less subtly than most Fae. If I wanted you, you would know it by now, I swear it. No. I want to be your assistant. I'm willing to take on the jobs of secretary and errand girl as part of the description, but I will help support the foundations of the Labyrinth and assist you in any way I can… except for one."

Jareth couldn't help but snort drunkenly. This girl was really asking for something and then applying conditions? How stupid could she be?

"And what would that condition be?" He asked, a condescending sneer gracing his features.

She smirked back with a mirthless malice that shook him slightly.

"I do not want to have sex with you. Ever. I do not want to be your wife, lover, hussy, mistress, whore, friend with benefits, or sex toy. That is the only condition I have. We do not have a romantic or sexual relationship _EVER._ And considering the state of mind that you're in now, I suspect that you will appreciate this little deal of ours. Hell, I'm willing to find hussy's to sleep with you if you have needs, but I won't be doing it myself. Understood?"

"I understand. But what makes you think I'm going to go along with this deal, even for a second?"

"Easy, because you need to. Your kingdom is literally crumbling around you. Your subjects are dying as we speak. You cannot afford to let that happen. If you do, you will lose your status and someone else will take your place. You need me, whether you like it or not, and you know it. Now, do we have a deal?"

She held out her right hand for him to shake.

Jareth eyed the hand cautiously. His mind was fuzzy from the alcohol and he knew that she was right, even if his pride told him to refuse. He needed this girls help. He couldn't lose his status. He couldn't lose everything he'd been raised and worked so hard for. After a minute of staring at her hand, his vision started to blur from blood loss and the alcohol. He knew he had to make his decision quick.

Finally, Jareth took her hand and gripped it firmly, trying his hardest to meet her changing eyes. He felt the weight of supporting the Labyrinth shift onto the girl's shoulders while he kept complete control over its magic and changing passageways.

"You had better be a hard worker," he warned, "because I will work you to the bone."

"I'll do my best, my lord," the girl responded, a slightly smug smile gracing her lips. "Now, let me begin, by cleaning that wound of yours before you bleed out. Can't let the king die first day on the job now can I?"

With that, the girl finally placed the handkerchief directly to the bleeding gash on Jareth's head, and while he hissed in pain, the girl did not flinch or go easy on him. She firmly held his head so that she could press the cloth against his face until she was certain the bleeding had stopped.

Only ten minutes after her arrival, this girl who called herself Kaethe had cleansed and attempted to stitch up the wound slightly with magic before Jareth passed out.

When he came to the next day, he was in his own bed, and it was only the throbbing in his head and the note next to his bed that reminded him that she was not merely a dream. This Kaethe was here to stay and help him. They had made a deal, and there was no way for him to back out of it now….


End file.
